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What are the how-to’s of writing a comic book. Scott McCloud’s books take a look at comics and focuses on breaking them down. What makes a comic book and how does it work? In the course that I am taking at the Open Center with Barbara Slate her approach is different. She is having us do a plot chart and character bible. She also has us working on drawing moments, and ‘seeing’ what the story would look like on cut outs so that we can move the pieces around to see what works or does not work for the story. The feedback and critic are spot on and help for productivity.
The only thing that I am struggling with is getting her to teach us rules. In a six page layout, what should each page consist of to move the story forward?
Maybe it is the scriptwriter in me, but I want to know that by page fifteen all my main characters need to be introduced, the conflict/inciting incident established and a turning point is happening or about to happen. The one thing that I enjoy about scriptwriting, believe it or not, are the rules. I learned this best when working as a teacher in video production. By giving the students the limit of five minutes of air time for their segment, it pushed them to be more creative and find ways to tell their story within that time frame.
This is what I can not seem to find in writing for comic books, rules. I want to know that the splash page should introduce the audience into the world and the story with as few images as possible. I want to know that page one should not only further introduce the characters, but also the inciting incident or that by page three there should be a turning point and page six the cliff hanger. I have asked our instructor, several times and I do not think that she understands what I am asking or maybe there are no rules? Maybe it’s because she’s learned comic book writing through a different route then a creative writing program, she learned it in the field by going from greeting cards to comics to animation. She’s learned it hands on, which is also her teaching style. This is something I can appreciate since much of what I have learned as a web designer is self taught, but there is something to be said about learning from theory and about the ‘structure’ or ‘rules’ of things. It lends to the adage, “Learn the rules, so you know how to break them.”
I took another look at the panels that I put together and I will be deleting a lot of the moments in the panel, first to go is the crime scene. It’s not needed.
The dialogue is also really bad. I can do a lot better, but have not hashed it out yet. I am realizing how much less dialogue is needed for a graphic novel then for a screenplay or stage play. Both, a screenplay and stage play, rely heavily on the auditory experience.
I’m finding with a graphic novel, the visual is key and works best in conjunction with the visceral relationship between each of the moments in a panel. The text really needs to be exact and precise, completely adding to the moment and the overall panel. Especially for a story like this one that is about the action and plot.
My mentor has been really pushing me to sketch out the panels and I am starting to understand the reasoning for it. It’s like video editing, every moment tells it’s own story but when you string them together a whole new meaning can be developed or it is realized that because of the visceral experience less is needed to tell the story. It’s why a cut in a movie or the jumping of images in graphic novel work. That instinctive understanding by the viewer who fills in all the gaps.
I think this semester I’m going to go back and reread Walter Murch’s book, “In a Blink of an Eye.” I really enjoy this book because it tries to answer the most basic and most important question a person working with images to tell a story needs to ask, “Why does a cut work?”
I feel this would help with a graphic novel because when it comes to the understanding and meaning of images strung together to create the wanted story, an important question to ask is, “why these two images next to each other not work to tell this story?”
So little time, so much work to do, but I’m looking forward to working on this again for this semester.
Changes to text and last to moments. I’m not happy about the text for the last panel. It will probably change. If you are having trouble viewing click here.
Panel 21 – High angle. Kassandra sits on the edge of the rooftop watching the City. The view is warped as we are seeing the City through Kassandra’s eyes and her specialized glasses. Superimposed over the City view is a green grid and computer stats buzzing along the bottom of the frame.
Panel 22 – A part of the glasses, Kassandra hits the button on the ear piece. “Alchemis, where’s Xochitl?”
Panel 23 – The warped view of the City gets a map laid over the grid with streets and a dot, showing Xochitl’s location. “Call her.”
Panel 24 – Xochitl standing in the lobby of high end apartments, she pushes the button on her bluetooth headset. “I just walked in, you’re scary you know.”
Panel 25 – Kassandra sits on the edge of the rooftop swinging her legs. “She should be home, her cellphone is turned on and it places her in her [...]
In April, after two Eisner awards, it was revealed that DC would give Batwoman her own series. Then it went quiet. There is no news of a launch date and there is also no news in general about what is going to happen next. Which has me wondering about the second run part of the current Detective Comics which follows The Question, who is now Renee Montoya.
I’m really enjoying this series and the characters. What pulls me in even more is the fact that the plot is exploring a human rights issue, human trafficking, specifically of women.
When a graphic novel takes the time to tell a good story with strong, solid art while getting the reader the think beyond the page, I’m hooked.
As a reader, I don’t want to just be entertained or impressed by the art, though sometimes its nice to not have to think. But, I want to [...]
Character Name: Acario Panagakos
Birthplace: Greece
Parents: Unknown
Age: 48
Height: 6′2”
Weight: 190lbs
Eye color: Brown
Skin: Olive skin
Hair: Brown thick, wavy, long and always tied back.
Clothing: High end, immaculate as if he walked out of GQ.
Dominant hand: Unknown
Sexuality: Bisexual, fetish for bondage
Work: Head of the Greek mafia, one part of the business is human trafficking which is how he acquired Kassandra Kinkade
Hobby: Work, exercise and sex addict
Likes: Sex, alcohol and money.
Dislikes: Incompetency.
Love interest: None. Not even his wife.
Personality: Acario Panagakos is efficient. He is a man of few words who gets what he wants, when he wants it and how he wants it. He is a parents dream except for the fact that he runs the Greek mafia that deals in human trafficking, drugs and real estate (the cover for his businesses). His wife perfectly fits into the picture that he has painted of his life. His wife is the youngest daughter of the Defense Secretary [...]
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